ThirdDrawerDown

In who's paying for who, I am very worried that at State level, Victoria's Liberal Party has a goodly (godly?) chunk of their $ coming from Mormon backers. I can't see a happy ever after in that story.

@buddyev I've just seen today's cartoon by David Rowe in the Fin. It's a candidate for best of the year, right down to the 'To Let' emblazoned on the arse of Abott's red budgie-smugglers.

At the risk of being on topic: Tony Abbott will go down in history as the gift who just keeps on giving.

My father would sing along to the radio as he washed the dishes after the evening meal. But the song that I always knew would be played at his funeral was the one he came home from work one day and asked my brother and I for "that song by Elton John with no words". I spent a long time ruffling through tapes and LPs to find "Funeral for a Friend" to which he said, "That's not it". My brother had just bought Elton's latest album, and remembered a song from it, "Is this it, Dad? It has no words." "You betcha! That's the one!" (A few months later it became a hit). It doesn't seem a year ago but it's almost to the very day that we had cause to play it. Once, at my urging, and although not a moviegoer, Dad took my advice and went with Mum to a particular movie. He loved it. (My father once held an age group record as a sprinter). So we played this too: Music without lyrics might be a good angle. My condolences to you in your loss. Thank you for this thread.

Foxes and berries? Nope, the diversions in this thread I have tolerated because it mostly came back on topic. But non-sequiters? Too much cr*p, too much muddy thinking, I'm out of here. I understand from that article that I linked to, that if you were trolling, then on those terms Art you have won Many thanks to Prof for this, which IMO is the closest this thread came to a solution:

Good. Now that you are more informed, we can return to the topic. To recap, we have a problem with groups of antisocial people who are breaking the law. The white-skinned folks in say Geelong aren't getting the media attention that say the black-skinned folks are, so there's no doubt there's a political element to the media coverage. No-one has suggested that the white folks try harder so they get that equivalent media coverage; we have a consensus in this thread that such a thing would be undesirable. What to do about all these people who are breaking the law? Responses have been: send them home, send them to gaol, send them anywhere else, send them for counselling and provide support to integrate them better into the community. Home appears to be Melbourne or Geelong, integration appears to be too expensive because tax, and gaol is ok because tax isn't a consideration. Carry on.

From the Sydney Morning Herald today, on polls and Malcolm's leadership. [snip] A narrow majority of voters back the NEG, with 54 per cent in favour while 22 per cent are against it and 24 per cent are unsure. Support for the flagship energy policy is strongest among Coalition voters, at 64 per cent, but the scheme is also backed by 59 per cent of Labor voters and 44 per cent of Greens voters. Even so, 56 per cent of all voters believe the government is doing too little to address climate change amid the argument over the scale of the cuts to greenhouse gas emissions in the new scheme. In a sign of discontent among conservative voters, the number who believe the government is doing too much on climate change has jumped from 7 to 13 per cent of all respondents since Fairfax-Ipsos asked the same question three years ago. [end snip] That final sentence reveals just how solid the walls of the bubble are. Noise deflects off the walls and makes of it an echo chamber. A shame, because it's dividing Australia as a community, as that rump travels further to the Right.

Yes, I saw that deflection too. It was a bit old-fashioned. Meantime, this is an interesting read: [snip] From asking innocent questions before mounting an attack to inciting online abuse by others, trolling is entering a new, subtler era. Here’s how to deal with it: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/18/how-to-handle-a-troll-and-neuter-a-sea-lion-dealing-with-online-attacks-astroturfine-trolljacking [snip]

It took me 20 years to get back to the same level of hifi that I had with my 1985 AR turntable. Had to sell it due to a cash crisis. This thread has made me feel nostalgic, it sounded great! It was on a wall mount shelf. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the ARs, Aristons, Thorens, Rega and Linns all of similar concept? (I've owned 3 out of 5, but have never been the sort to look under the hood. Now I have the ultra-decoupled approach of the Roksan Xerxes)

Art, I do love how you keep shifting ground. You asked: to which the answer is a resounding "no". Then said: The answer remains "no". No matter what the size of the problem, the "no" remains. This is not difficult.

Thinking about the young man on the train carriage at Yarraville in 2015: My heart goes out to the child who saw a beheading and other violence in a land that he was fortunate enough to get away from. No sense of "home" in the word "homeland" for him as far as his country of origin goes. But his adult response was way out of line, that he could regard himself as so separate from those who are living more fortunate lives, to the point of not caring about laws and norms and attacking a student for his i-phone. From his rantings before he attacked, he sounded like a smart young man who was just wired badly. There was a lot of cry for help in what he said and did. Prison would not be the right place for him to reframe himself. A stretch would achieve two things: send a message that his behavior was unacceptable (which he knew already), and keep the city safer for i-phone users due to him being out of circulation for a while. Prison is a nicer way of beating the s**t out of these kids. What's the figure? More than a third of the prison population is mentally ill?

Hi Prof, have you been following the Dunedin study? "Impulse control" is the compelling finding after fifty years of tracking. The quote below is from one of the papers referenced on wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin_Multidisciplinary_Health_and_Development_Study I'd fail the jellybean test, by the way. The likely predicted indicators of lack of impulse control are all there: criminal behaviour, kids without fathers, alcoholism and other addictions, divorce, financial trouble, and so on. What surprised me was that a higher rate of workplace accidents and injury is also a consequence of being low in the impulse control stakes.

Why is this question even being asked? Nothing in the scenario indicates that any of the participants have offered an invitation to treat. Also, it is not on topic. A wise friend said once, "I don't know why people having sexual relations is regarded by some drongos as an invitation to violence. If anything, and particularly if there's a sense of adventure, it's most likely to be an invitation in other ways. There are only two right and proper things to do in that situation: leave them to it if they want privacy, or ask if you can join in." Please read the article listed above.It puts the matter into perspective: including the number of people involved. The only incident where I've phoned the Police and intervened to stop an assault on Melbourne's trains involved a Somali man attacking a Nepalese student. That doesn't mean I'm going to generalise that all Somali men are criminals with mental health issues like this guy. (Before he attacked, he was shouting about seeing someone beheaded when he was a small boy). For example, our extended family includes a lovely lovely man who happens to be Somali. He and his family are welcome here any time.

There was an editorial in the Sunday Herald Sun three, maybe four weeks ago, about Law and Order and how it was the election-deciding issue and that Matthew Guy was obviously better placed to deal with law and order issues. It went on to say that the Liberals should not take it for granted that the issue would give them the election win. Better placed? After the lobster dinner, the scenario is obvious. Tall burly men in designer suits and sunglasses will be formally engaged as consultants across Victoria to provide mediation and conflict resolution services for all citizens. So we are safer. Fees will be ongoing and you *will* pay, please don't ask for an invoice.

This article bring some facts to what is a fraught discussion: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/crime-gangs-facts-fiction-and-furphies-20180815-p4zxo2.html It's well worth reading.